Fastening means for shoe laces



July 13, 1965 SHU-LIEN LIOU FASTENING MEANS FOR SHOE LACES Filed March26; 1963 INVENTOR. SHU- LIEN L|OU 3,193,950 FASTENING MEANS 1 R SHOELACES Shir-Lien Lion, Tsushan-tsen, Nantao-hsien, Taiwan (Formosa),China (195 Chungking N. Road, Sec. 3, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China)Filed Mar. 26, 1963, Ser. No. 268,082

, 1 Claim. Cl. fad-5%) This application relates generally to wearingapparel and to equipment for quickly and easily applying and removingsuch apparel with a minimum of effort and in a minimum of time.

The application relates particularly to the applying and removing ofshoes or the like and to a method and apparatus for applying andreleasing the tension on the shoe laces without the necessity of untyingsuch shoe laces.

Heretofore various means for fastening shoes have been in use and thesehave included shoe laces, buttons, zippers, buckles and the like, and ofthese the shoe lace has been the most commonly used even though it hasbeen necessary to untie shoe laces each time the shoe is removed and toretie the laces when the shoes are again put on.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus whichis used in cooperation with shoe laces and which permits the shoes to bequickly and easily applied and removed from the feet without thenecessity of untying the shoe laces.

Another object of the invention is to provide shoe laces which giveadded support to the ankles.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method wheerin theshoe laces are tied at the lower portion of the tying flap of the shoeinstead of the top.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingin which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of an athletic type shoe illustrating oneembodiment of the invention in an open position;

FIG. 2, an enlarged fragmentary top plan illustrating the shoe of FIG. 1in closed position;

FIG. 3, a perspective of the fastening device per se;

FIG. 4, a perspective illustrating the fastening device applied to awork style shoe;

FIG. 5, a perspective illustrating the invention applied to a boot typeshoe;

FIG. 6, a perspective illustrating the application of th invention to alow-cut athletic shoe;

FIG. 7, a perspective of a modified form of fastening device in use;

FIG. 8, a perspective of the fastening device of FIG. 7; and,

FIG. 9, a perspective of a shoe utilizing the fastener of FIG. 7.

Briefly stated the present invention is a method and apparatus for useon shoes having shoe laces and includes a clip or other fastening devicewhich permits such shoe laces to be quickly tightened and released toallow rapid application and removal of the shoes without untying theshoe laces. The preferred form of the invention is a relatively smallclip adapted to be attached to a loop in the shoe lace and which has ahook portion for releasably engaging a loop on the opposite side of theshoe.

With continued reference to the drawing, a shoe 10 is provided having atongue 11 and a pair of flaps 12 and 13 which normally overlie thetongue and which are connected by a shoe lace 14 received within aseries of eyelets 15 in each of the flaps 12 and 13 to close the frontportion of the shoe. The shoe laces may be constructed of any convenientmaterial such as woven fabric, leather, plastic or the like, and ifdesired may have metal tips or fer-rules 16 on each end to assist inthreading the shoe laces through the eyelets 15.

3,l93,95 Patented July 13, 1965 Normally the central portion of the shoelaces connects the bottom of the flaps 12 and 13 and the shoe lace ithen crossed back and forth between such flaps and the free ends arelocated at the top of the shoe so that when the shoe lace is tightenedthe flaps 12 and 13 will be closed over the tongue 11 and the ends ofthe shoe laceare tied in a bow to secure the shoe on the foot of thewearer.

In the present application the central portion of the shoe lace isdisposed at the top portion of the flaps 12 and 13 and one or more loops17 are formed in the shoe lace by passing such shoe lace from the insideof an eyelet on one of the flaps to the outside thereof and back inthrough the next lower eyelet in the same flap. If desired, the shoelace may then crisscross to the opposite side and additional loops maybe formed in the manner illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4; or, as illustratedin FIG. 5, additional loops may be formed on the same flap withoutcrisscrossing the ends of the shoe lace. The free ends of the shoe laceare then joined at the bottom front portion of the flaps 12 and 13 andmay be secured together by a bow or knot 18.

The loops 17 which have been formed in one of the flaps are adapted tobe connected to the corresponding loops in the opposite flap and inorder to do this a clip 20 is slidably attached to one of the loops byan eye 21. The eye 21 is formed with an arc 22 so that the shoe lace 14will not engage a sharp corner which would eventually sever the shoelace. The opposite end of the clip 2t) is provided with a hook 23, thebight portion of which has an arcuate portion 24 adapted to engage theloop 17 of the opposite flap.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, clips 20 are applied to the loops 17 of theflap 13 and when the shoe 10 is applied to the foot of the wearer theloops 17 of the flap 12 are engaged by the hook 23, as illustrated inFIG. 2, to close the flaps 12 and 13. When it is desired to remove theshoe it is only necessary to remove the loops of the flap '12 from thehook portion of the clips 20 whereupon the loops will provide sufficientslack to easily remove the shoe from the foot without the necessity ofuntying the ends of the shoe lace.

Relatively tall high-cut shoes which project upwardly about the ankle ofthe wearer may have an additional eyelet 26 located adjacent to the topof the shoe and in spaced relation to the uppermost of the eyelets 15 sothat the shoe lace 14 may extend around the upper portion of the shoeand give added support to the ankle of the wearer.

With reference to FIGS. 7-9 a shoe 30 is provided having flaps 31 and 32and each of said flaps has a series of eyelets 33 for the reception of ashoe lace 34. In this modification the flap 32 is provided with one or mre projections 35 on which a button 36 having a stem 37 is fixed. Theshoe lace 34 is provided with loops 38 as described in the previousmodification, and in order to tighten the shoe lace after the shoe hasbeen applied to the foot of the wearer, the loops 38 of the flap 31 arefirst placed around the stem 37 of the button 36, after which the loops38 of the flap 32 are placed about the same stern.

In the use of the device when the shoe is applied to the foot of thewearer the loops 17 or 38 are drawn through the eyelets to tighten theshoe laces and draw the flaps toward each other, and such loops are thenengaged with the clips 2% or the stems 37 to maintain the shoe lacestight. When it is desired to remove the shoe it is only necessary todisconnect the loops from the attaching members and the loops willprovide sufiicient slack to permit the shoe to be easily removed withoutuntying the shoe laces.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may bemade in the invention without departing ing and described in thespecification, but only tion is not limited by that which is illustratedin the draw,- as indicated in the accompanying claim. g

What is claimed is a 2 a 1 Apparatus for fastening a shoe having a'pairof spaced generally parallel flaps connected 'by a shoe lace havingopposed loops, saidapparatu's comprising a clip having a thin relativelysmall body, an integral tubular eye aton end of said body, said eyeextending entirely across said body and being formed on a transversearc, said eye-being slidably mountedon one loop of one of said flapswith-' I out cutting the same, an integral hook at the -opposite a tang,said big-ht portion extending entirely across said body and being'formedon a transverse are, said light portion being of a size to selectivelyreceive an opposed loop on the other flap without cutting thesame,v.said tang overlying said body and having a portion extending to-.ward said body and terminating in an upwardly curved portion tofacilitate insertion of the shoe lace, said hook and said eye beingsubstantially in the same plane when in use, whereby said fi-aps will bein close generally parallel position and the shoe laces will bettightwhen the apparatus. is connecting opposed loops of the shoe lace andwill provide sufficient slack to remove the shoe from the foot of thewearer when the hook is'detached trorn one of the loops. i I nReferences (Zited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS, W 146,913 1/74Keith 24-140 21,469,661 10/23 Migita 24-140 1,995,243 3/352 -Clarke24-140 2,109,751 3/38 Matthias r al. -7 36-'-50X 2,266,083 :12/41Rzepaf. 24- -1411 2;611,940 9/52 Cairns 24-140 7 2 V FOREIGN PATENTS525,166 1/54 Belgium. r 173 ,099 1/05 Germany.

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

